STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 23 



SPRAYING. 

 Prof. W. M. MuNSON, Orono. 



(Abstract.) 



"It is commonly estimated that the annual yield of all crops 

 is lessened about 25 per cent, by the attacks of injurious insects 

 and fungous diseases. Experiments have demonstrated that at 

 least 75 per cent, of this loss can be prevented by the use of 

 simple remedies applied by means of a spray pump. Expressed 

 in tigures, the annual loss would represent, about $500,000,000 

 in the United States alone. Of this amount, 75 per cent., or 

 $375,000,000 can be saved by spraying." 



The above paragraph represents the facts concerning the im- 

 portance of spraying, at the present time. 



Spraying has ceased to be an experiment. The beneficial 

 results obtained at the experiment stations have been fully cor- 

 roborated in practical field work, and now it is important to know 

 the hozv and the zvhy of spraying. In other words, in order that 

 the best results may be obtained, spraying must be done intel- 

 ligently. 



Success in spraying, as in most of the work in life, is largely 

 a matter of detail. Little things, seemingly unimportant, all 

 affect the results obtained. Failure may usually be attributed 

 to lateness of application, carelessness in applying or in preparing 

 the material, or to defective apparatus. 



WHY SPRAY? 



Spraying is plant insurance. It is, with few exceptions, a 

 preventive measure for many of the ills that plants are heir to, 

 and not a cure. There are several distinct classes of enemies 

 which may be grouped first under the two general heads,- — insects 

 and fungi. 



The insect enemies are naturally divided into distinct classes 

 which must be met in very different ways, and the same is true 

 of the fungi. The first class of insect enemies includes those 

 that, either in the mature form or as larvae, eat the plant tissue; 

 e. g., the plum curculio, the codling moth, the currant worm, the 



